I have no idea why this post has taken me so long to write, but it has. Seriously, a few sentences of this has been sitting in my drafts folder for about ten days now. Every time I go to work on it, I get distracted by something else. WHAT IS MY PROBLEM?

Despite my week of laziness, I have finally forced myself to sit down and get this out. Because soon it’s going to be sadly un-topical.

So here we go! A few weeks ago, I took some time to round up my feelings on the third season of Arrow, both the good and the not so good. Today we’re going to (finally) look at Arrow‘s little brother, The Flash.

Well, if nothing else, Season 3 was certainly something. Was it something I was always wild about? Maybe not. Definitely not. But it happened. Good things happened. Good character development and story telling, and while there was definitely moments of over reaching or clunky side lines, I’m certainly not going anywhere come Season Four. So let’s break it down. Take a look at Season Three and talk about what worked, what didn’t work, what were good choices, what were not so good choices. And then let’s talk about what’s to come.

I don’t think this could have been a more awkward dinner if they tried.

So. Secrets! Secrets, an integral part of any good superhero story. And always, always, forever always, something that comes back to bite said superhero in the ass at some point in the game.

Over these past few episodes since Eddie found out the truth about Barry, I’ve been giving Barry Allen’s secret a lot of thought. I’ve been thinking about who he’s told, why he’s told them, how they’ve found out. I’ve been thinking about those who know his secret and what they think of it. I’ve been thinking about the way the story of his secret identity has been playing out. And I’ve been thinking about it in contrast to Oliver Queen’s Arrow.

It’s been hard, these past few episode since Captain Lance found out the truth about Sara, to watch him spiral back into the man we we were first introduced to. He was a man without compassion, one who was consumed by his own grief and helplessness. His rage was cruel and vindictive, placing blame for his loss where it wasn’t deserved. But he seemed to have come a long way since then.

I spent the weekend with my two sisters and thousands of other nerds at Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle. And, though I was slightly wary as I am not in any way a comic book person, I had a great time.

I sat through the Marvel panel and the DC panel and the Bitch Planet panel (that was called something else but I can’t remember – it was about ladies in comics and it really just turned into a celebration of ladies doing cool stuff and was a real highlight of the weekend) even though, like I just said, I’m not a comics person. I feel bad about that sometimes, so I feel I should clarify that it’s not that I look down on comics as a lesser medium. That’s not it at all. I can appreciate just how fantastic the art and the storytelling is, it’s just not a medium that speaks to me. Something about that much art on the page instead of words leaves me disconnected and unfocused. And when it comes to the two major players – I like the stories and the characters, sometimes love the tv shows or the movies that have spawned from them, but I have trouble with following those stories in comic book form. All the reboots and ret-cons and changing histories and bringing characters back from the dead and the alternate universes – all of that makes me crazy. I think I just said this in my last post about The Flash and the introduction of time travel onto the show – I am a linear person.

This past Sunday was International Women’s Day (and also, my birthday which is almost as important). So for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, we’re going to celebrate women. I realize that there’s absolutely no way to make a comprehensive list of awesome women and awesome female moments and relationships with just ten measly entries, so take this list as a jumping off point. This is a mere smattering of great characters and great shows, but it’s ten moments that have stuck with me: ten moments of women standing up for themselves, of women supporting other women, of women fighting for their families, and of women loving themselves. Enjoy the clips.

Maybe I’m a week late since Valentine’s Day has just passed, but I thought on this inaugural edition of Top Ten Tuesdays I would start be spreading some love.

No matter what your favorite show is about – be it prison, family, superheroes, high school, or cops – someone, somewhere is falling in love. There’s no hiding from it. There’s no use telling a story without it in there somewhere. So let’s celebrate it.

Today’s list features my Top Ten Couples: canonical love stories featured on shows that have yet to reach their series finale. Not all these couples are currently together – in fact one hasn’t even managed to get themselves together yet, though their feelings for one another are definitely clear – but they’ve made a mark on their respective shows.